Gophers goalie Liam Souliere transfers in from Penn State, helping form solid new duo

Gophers men’s hockey coach Bob Motzko has praised the goaltending in his team’s 5-1 start, calling it “good, good, very good.”

With one caveat.

“We haven’t been punched in the mouth yet,” he said.

So far, his Gophers have lost 2-1 in overtime despite outshooting Nebraska-Omaha 54-18 on opening weekend in Las Vegas. The Gophers enter a two-game home Big Ten series Friday against Penn State on a four-game win streak in which they outscored opponents 25-9.

They have done so by starting sophomore Nathan Airey in the first game each weekend, followed by fifth-year transfer Liam Souliere.

Airey is 3-0 so far in a season when his teammates scored seven goals — exactly seven — in each of those three games. Seven is also the number of goals Airey allowed combined in those first three starts.

Souliere is 2-1 in three starts after he played in 84 games in four seasons at Penn State. He transferred to Minnesota in April for his final collegiate season.

“We threw a couple chirps his way at Penn State,” Gophers junior forward Connor Kurth said. “But we’re excited to have him here. He’s great back there. It’s normal now.”

Souliere went 12-14-1 for the Nittany Lions last season, but five of those losses came against the Gophers.

“The No. 1 thing is, both have gotten in there; they’re both getting confidence,” Motzko said. “They’re getting minutes, and our staff and their teammates have confidence in them.”

Justen Close started all 24 games in his final season a year ago. Airey played in parts of two of those.

When the season started, Motzko called Airey “a big strong athlete” and said, “We’ve got a ton of faith” in his return for his sophomore season.

He mentioned Souliere — 25, from Montreal — in the same breath with Close.

“Liam Souliere kind of has a little Justen Close in him,” Motzko said. “He has been around. That’s the one advantage we’re going to get in this transfer portal area. We just added an old wily quarterback who’s excited to be here. Nothing is going to be too big for him. That’s going to help the young guy, too.”

Souliere was not made available for interviews before the upcoming Penn State games. But Gophers sophomore forward Oliver Moore remembers playing against a team on which Souliere played years ago.

“It was a little weird when he first came here, honestly,” Moore said. “It’s cool seeing him on our side now. He’s such a hard worker. He competes so hard in net. Just positivity every day. He brings so much from a veteran guy like that. He’s a great goalie, too.”

Airey and Souliere split the playing time, for now, decisions Motzko makes game by game.

“The real honest answers with regards to goaltending: I pick starters, I never pick a No. 1 goalie,” Motzko said when the season started. “I pick starters. You got Friday, and you got Saturday. They got a battle on their hands to battle this thing out. There’s going to be a changing of the guard at goaltending this year, and we’ve got a couple guys who are going to fight it out.”

For now, the two goalies will continue to alternate starts.

“That was our plan to start and I don’t know when to deviate, so we’ll keep assessing it,” Motzko said. “But we need to get punched in the mouth and fight back. It’s coming.”